IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 30, October 2008, Circulation: 12,606
October 6, 2008
We live in the midst of great change. In the upper reaches of the northern hemisphere, it’s fall. Down under, the seasons are moving towards summer. Birds are migrating. Natural cycles are continuing as they have for centuries. Transitions of all sorts impact our lives.
In this issue of the Voice, you can hear how we as coaches can respond to the cycles of change.
From our President, Angela Spaxman, you can learn how you can help your clients and those around you weather uncertainty during the world economic crisis we face.
Nina East’s Certification Tidbits gives you valuable insight into the minds of our Certifiers, helping you to prepare for your transition into the role of certified coach.
Coaching Moments returns and Janice Hunter brings you some insight into the relationship between ultimate transition into the unknown and the coaching process.
Travel brings changes and shifts of its own. One of our exclusive member benefits is highlighted this month helping you to see new horizons and enjoy new scenery.
No matter where you live, you are touched by cycles of change. May these seasons bring you peace, joy, and fulfillment in your practice of the art and science of coaching—and beyond.
This is the question on my mind, inspired by the book “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” by John Wood. Here is a man who at 35 gave up a rewarding corporate career to literally change the world through providing books to 3rd world children in need. He voluntarily gave up his lucrative job without any guarantees of personal income or success apart from his own passion for making his dreams come true.
I feel humbled by his leadership. It makes me re-examine my own commitment to evolving humanity. Is it as much as I can do?
These days our financial system is topsy-turvy. And yet nothing has really changed in terms of how much of ourselves we can give to worthy causes. The obstacles are not our bank balances but our desires to do what is right for us.
And no matter what money is lost, nothing has changed in terms of our other resources: our educations, experiences, our mature physical and spiritual selves.
I can imagine so many ways that coaches can help in these times: by creating positive moods and goals; by supporting and encouraging those facing losses; by revealing new choices; and by provoking people with power to operate from their highest integrity.
In this effort, the IAC provides a foundation that encourages the highest possible coaching quality, and I hope supports you in providing help through your coaching. How else can we help you to give?
It is timely that the IAC is now actively seeking more volunteer contributions to continue building an organization that creates and promotes coaching excellence. You’ll see our call for leaders to join our Board of Governors. And by following this link, you can volunteer for a position that suits your strengths and desires. We want to be influenced by you. This is our way to evolve together as coaches, and give.
The IAC volunteers are working hard on our current initiatives which include: the licensing program for the IAC Coaching Masteries™; an improved editorial process; more resources to connect and support our volunteers; new member benefits; new resources to promote coaching globally; more website interactivity and re-examination of the long-term vision for our organization.
For the work being done and the work to be done, I am thankful.
Interest in the IAC Coaching Masteries™ continues to grow…and with that interest comes great questions. Two of the questions the Certification Board hears the most are:
1. What are you really listening for when you listen to certification recordings? and 2. What are the Certifiers noticing? Are there patterns? What are coaches getting and not getting? (OK, so that’s actually three questions – but they tend to come together, all at once.)
What those questions are telling us is that members are interested in “picking the brains” of the Certifiers – so we got three IAC Certifiers together and had them talk about the Masteries, certification, and what’s next for coaching.
This discussion, recorded for download, was part of the Great Minds Roundtable hosted by the Association of Personal Growth Professionals. The conversation was focused specifically on coaching and the IAC Coaching Masteries™. Very special thanks go out to Karen Van Cleve and Natalie Tucker Miller for participating in this conversation.
Here is a small sample of what you’ll hear from the Certifiers in the audio recording:
what defines masterful coaching
what keeps coaches from being masterful – with a list of examples
how the masteries allow for a variety of coaching styles
how transformation and sustainable change are different from behavioral change or getting a specific result
when being a bit directive is actually masterful, and when it is not
how to know what’s really going on in the coaching session – when trying not to have an agenda becomes an agenda in itself
how to know when there are other levels to the conversation
why a coach needs to understand themselves first
how a coach’s fears and thoughts impact their coaching
how to be aware of your level of expertise when studying for certification
Remember, if you are an IAC member, you can download the Masteries eBook as one of your membership benefits. If you are not a member, you can still access some of the information about the masteries here.
Next month we will get back to discussing the Masteries one by one. Next on the list is Mastery #4 – Processing In The Present.
Nina East is the IAC’s Lead Certifier and the founder of PersonalGrowthProfessionals.com. As a coach, she helps personal growth professionals turn creative edge thinking into practical tools and resources, and helps coaches master the art of coaching. For even more insights about IAC Certification and the 9 Coaching Masteries™ listen to all Nina’s interviews at www.MyMentorCoach.com.
"Coaching Moments" takes a thoughtful look at how coaching can be interwoven into our daily lives.
Black holes and hurtling~ by Janice Hunter
It’s the end of the world as we know it …and I feel fine! ~ R.E.M lyrics
My kids came home from school yesterday, bursting with all the gossip they’d heard about The End of the World. Luckily, because of what I’ve learned on my coaching journey, I’m no longer daunted by conversations about particle physics and quantum physics, about energy and focus, manifestation and momentum. I love discussing the details of how we create our own lives, our own worlds.
So, we chatted about black holes and the Big Bang experiment currently taking place in a circular chamber deep under the Alps in Switzerland. My daughter, a teenager, couldn’t believe that some of her classmates had cried when they heard that one of the undesirable side effects of this particle collision experiment might be that we’d all turn into goo or simply disappear. Her approach? I’ve had a good life, if we’ve got to go, we’ve got to go. Nothing we can do about it. Our life has been a roller coaster ride recently, partly caused by our daughter’s emotional ups and downs and what we call her ‘horrormoans’. I was stunned that she’d decided not to make a drama of it and that she considered her life so far to have been “good”.
My son, on the other hand, looked at me for reassurance, his huge grey eyes overcast with the threat of tears. I asked him if he’d like to be with me when they flicked the switch and he hugged me and smiled a nod.
I remember looking at the night sky as a child, then crying myself to sleep thinking about where the universe ended and what was beyond it. Years later, I smiled when one of the kids first asked me who God’s mum and dad were. I’ve never lost the wonder and the curiosity I had as a child, although in this case, I admit to having very little curiosity about how creation got created. Maybe it’s a throwback to those days when some unanswerable curious questions just made my head hurt and my anxious heart worry.
I’m not being flippant here, but the total and instant end of the world doesn’t worry me; being separated from my loved ones does. So does watching a beautiful planet die a slow and painful death because a species who ought to know better not only destroys its home, but its fellow Earth-dwellers.
As I sat with the kids at 8:29 this morning, waiting for some scientists in Switzerland to switch on an experiment that really began decades ago, I didn’t think it would do any harm to suggest we quickly say a silent sorry for everything hurtful we’d ever done and a big thank you for everything. Without prompting, they both turned and said “I love you.”
The moment came, it went and as they headed off for school, I realised we create our own universes, our own new worlds every day, without the need for billion dollar experiments. Love a lot, serve others, say sorry, say thank you and every moment that ever was until now disappears down your very own black hole. We create a new world with every thought, every breath, every loving gesture and every decision to do something differently, something better.
If those scientists had asked me, I could have told them for free that there’s already a black hole in our house, caused by me hurtling around in circles at the speed of light and colliding, hormone-ridden, with one or other of my kids’ crises. Full of Dark Matter, our very own black hole swirls ominously in the vicinity of the kids’ bedrooms, the place where stuff, sanity and socks strangely disappear…My husband would probably tell you there’s been a black hole in his wallet since the kids were born!
As this Swiss experiment is due to go through various phases until October, here are some questions to exploit its media presence or maybe even turn some energy shifts into Big Bangs!
If you could create a black hole in your home, what would you dump in it?
If you could create a black hole in your life, what would you dump in it?
If you could live five parallel lives, all as yourself, who would you be in each? (For example, in one life, I’d be performing all over the world and making albums as a singer songwriter; in another I’d be writing my latest novel with my lace curtains blowing in a sea breeze…)
What causes the highest levels of creativity in your life, in your home?
How would you like to spend your last few weeks in this known universe?
What, if anything, would be on your “I wish I’d done that!” list?
What song would you have playing as the soundtrack to your life?
What would be the last things you’d want to smell, see, taste and touch?
What would you say to your loved ones that could really, should really be said NOW….?
About the Author: Janice Hunter is a writer and IAC certified coach who lives in Scotland with her husband and two children. She specialises in homelife coaching (helping people create authentic, spirit-filled homes and lives) and also enjoys supporting other coaches through her writing and collaboration. www.sharingthecertificationjourney.com.
Janice has compiled all of her Coaching Moments pieces from the last two years into a free 46 page ebook, 'Coaching Moments: a Collection of Articles about Coaching in Everyday Life' which can be downloaded here or from her site.
All IAC members can receive exclusive discounts of up to 60% on travel, entertainment, electronics, health products and more. While most offers are valid only in the USA, there are special sections for Canada and the UK. For our international members, check out the travel and ticket offers when you are planning travel to the US.
The IAC Board of Governors is looking for new leaders to join the Board.
If you are interested in being part of the IAC Board and:
ready to work with an international group of leaders
willing to make a commitment
motivated by the opportunity to serve
committed to promoting excellence in the field of coaching and
inspired to provide leadership
then we want to hear from you.
We are casting our nets far and wide and across all international borders in our effort to recruit and retain leaders who are prepared to make a difference.
Now is the time and this is the moment for you to answer the call!
We'd love to get your feedback on any issue related to the IAC. Do have any questions, concerns, encouragement or ideas for improvement regarding anything we do including membership benefits, certification, the VOICE, the direction of the organization, or anything else at all? Please send an email to feedback@certifiedcoach.org. Please help us improve.
To sign up and pay for membership click here. Use your usual log-in information and follow the instructions.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
